His Every Word (6 page)

“I assume you’ll recognize him,” Phillips said, pulling a small picture from his wallet and handing it to her.

Kallie looked at it. It was a mug shot, and it was obviously Levi—although his hair was a bit longer and he had the beginnings of a beard and mustache in this picture.

She nodded, resigned to the ugly truth. “That’s him all right.” She handed the picture back quickly, feeling dirty just touching it.

“I was also able to get a picture of him from the surveillance camera at the gym, on the day when you first met him. And through that, I was able to find the alias he used, and trace that back to a stolen identity he’d cultivated for just this purpose.”

“Couldn’t you arrest him?”

“He’s gone, disappeared,” Phillips said, shaking his head. “He’ll turn up again at some point and we’ll get him. But for now, we need to be careful. I suspect he’s extremely loyal to his father, and potentially very angry and vengeful over Terrence’s death.”

Kallie started chewing her thumbnail. “So it’s not over,” she said, looking up at them both. “We’re still in danger.”

“That’s why he’s here,” Hunter said. “I want him by your side, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week—no exceptions.”

She stood up now, incredulous. “Wait a minute. You’re putting me under twenty-four-hour security? You’re the one who’s most in danger, Hunter. You’re the one that Trevor will go after—you killed his father.”

“I’m safe here. The nurses and security guards are under strict instructions about who to allow to visit with me.”

She guffawed. “If that psycho wants to get into your room, he can. He’ll find a way to come and hurt you.”

“Maybe so. Maybe I’ll hire someone to stand guard outside my room. But for now, I’m most concerned about you, and I trust the detective to see to it that you’re safe at all times.”

She clenched her fists. “This is absurd, Hunter. I can’t have someone trailing me all day long. I won’t have it.”

“It’s how it is.”

“Look, I don’t mind if he sits in a car outside my hotel at night—something like that. But I don’t need a secret service detail.”

Hunter shrugged. “It’s really not up for discussion.”

She was surprised that Hunter could still infuriate her so much, after everything they’d been through together. She pointed at him. “You just put me in charge of your business affairs and everything else. So I can just fire him.”

Hunter shook his head. “No. This is the one detail that I’ve taken care of separately, and it’s the one thing that you don’t have control over. I insist that Detective Phillips provide security until this matter is settled or until I can protect you myself.”

Kallie realized there was no winning this argument. Hunter had made up his mind, and the last thing she wanted to do was create stress for him when he was so vulnerable. If this was what he needed in order to feel better and relax and heal, than she would endure it.

But she wouldn’t like it. “Well, fine—I accept your decision,” she muttered.

“Good.”

“But he can leave the room now. Stand outside in the hallway or something,” she said.

Phillips grinned and quickly left, his footsteps fading as he went and closed the door behind him.

“You’re not being nice,” Hunter gently chided her.

“I don’t like him,” she said. “He’s a jerk.”

“No, he’s a good guy.”

“I don’t even want to waste anymore time discussing him,” she said, returning to Hunter’s bedside and pulling up a chair so she could sit close to him.

He was looking pale and tired. His eyes had dark circles under them, as if someone had put smudges of coal there. She could hear his breathing, somewhat irregular and rasping.

He took her hand and gripped it tightly, looking at her intently. “I love you so much,” he said softly.

“I can’t believe you did what you did,” she said, tears springing to her eyes. “I can’t believe you saved my life—and my brother’s life, too.”

Hunter smiled. “He’s probably still pissed off at me, anyway.”

“No,” she laughed. “No, he’s in awe of you, just like I am.”

“There’s no need to put me on a pedestal. I’m just a guy who loves you, that’s all.”

“You’re more than that.”

His expression grew serious. “I’ve been thinking about something,” he said.

“Ever since I woke up from surgery, I’ve been thinking about my father.”

She nearly jumped, the comment took her so much by surprise. She squeezed his hand tightly. “What about him?”

His gaze broke away from hers, looking out the window. “Thinking about what happened—the things that I’ve tried so hard to run from. All the things that I couldn’t ever tell you about.” His voice had grown hoarse, and she could tell he was struggling to hold it together.

“You can always tell me everything,” she said. “I hope you know that.”

“When I woke up, and realized how close I was to the end without ever having told you everything…” he swallowed and his chest rose and fell.

Suddenly, the door to the room opened again and a nurse came in, apologizing for disrupting them. “I need to check his vitals and give him his meds,” she explained, as she checked his chart and then moved to Hunter’s bedside.

Kallie let go of Hunter’s hand, feeling a sense of anguish that the opportunity for Hunter to tell his story had been temporarily halted. He and the nurse bantered lightly about his condition, with Hunter joking about the pain. “I thought it would hurt, but actually it only feels like someone dropped a fifty pound dumbbell onto my chest.”

“I think you’d have been better off if that’s all that had happened to you,” the nurse retorted drily. She was younger than the previous nurse Kallie had met, and Kallie instantly warmed to her.

When the young nurse was done checking his vitals and giving Hunter his medication, Kallie asked what her name was. “I’m Denise,” the girl told her. “You must be Kallie—Hunter’s talked a lot about you since he woke up this morning. Apparently you can do no wrong.”

“Is that what he says when I’m not around?” Kallie asked, her face flushing pleasantly.

“It must be nice to have a guy talk about you that way,” Denise continued. “Not that I’d know. Everyone I date’s been a big jerk.”

“I know the feeling. But sometimes, when you least expect it, things change and you meet someone special—someone different.”

The nurse nodded, turned to Kallie. “He’s going to need a lot of rest,” she said.

“He’s been through quite a trauma and he’s already had a lot of commotion this morning.

I recommend some quiet time now.”

Kallie smiled and nodded her understanding. “I don’t want him to push himself and end up sick,” she said.

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” Hunter croaked. But already he looked even more tired than he had just a moment ago. Maybe the meds were kicking in fast, or perhaps it was just sudden change in alertness, brought about by focusing and engaging so much with Kallie and his other visitors.

Whatever the case, he was starting to fall asleep by the time the nurse left the room.

His eyes closed, than opened again. He smiled at her. “You need to take care of yourself too,” he told her, his voice coming from far away, sounding faint and weak.

“Don’t you worry about me,” she said, standing up and coming over to caress his hair softly.

“I do worry about you, though.”

“I’m doing great.”

“Oh, one last thing before I forget,” Hunter said, after a long pause. “My surgeon is expecting you.”

“Your surgeon?” she said, thinking he was starting to talk nonsense.

“Yeah, my surgeon—Doctor Forrest. When he came by this morning to look in on me, I told him you’d want to meet him.”

Kallie couldn’t help but smile. “You’re really nuts, you know that?”

“I’m crazy for a girl,” he said. “Don’t you know that by now?” And then he started to softly sing Crazy Little Thing Called Love again, his voice growing softer and softer and then fading into silence.

Kallie stood by his bedside and watched him sleep peacefully for a few minutes, and then she grabbed her purse and left the room. Detective Phillips was waiting when she walked out, and she rolled her eyes. “You’re not really going to follow me around all day, are you?”

He put his hands in his pockets. “It’s what I’ve been hired to do.”

“Don’t you have a real job to go to?”

“I took some vacation time.”

She shook her head. “You know, Hunter’s the one you should be watching over.”

Phillips smiled. “I agree. I’ve called a friend of mine and he’s going to recommend extra security on Hunter’s hospital room to the proper authorities. Given all of the media attention, they should have someone down here by late afternoon or early evening.”

“So I guess that means I’m stuck with you?” she asked.

“I guess.”

“Okay, then. Keep up with me,” she said, starting to head to the nurse’s station.

“I’m going to find Hunter’s surgeon.”

***

Doctor Forrest was old.

That was the first thing she noticed when he let her into his office with a warm greeting. Kallie knew that she shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but she was truly shocked when she first saw him, because she’d been expecting one of those young, studly doctors like you always saw on Grey’s Anatomy.

But Dr. Forrest was no McDreamy. He was, however, exceedingly friendly, which was nice. He walked slowly away from his door, limping slightly, and sat down at his desk, sighing as he did so. “This damn leg,” he told her, by way of explanation. “I injured myself a month ago, rebuilding the deck in my backyard. It’s been a long road back, and the dang thing still aches something fierce.”

“Oh, that sounds painful,” Kallie said, grimacing in sympathy. She sat down across from him, her nerves already subsiding thanks to his accessible and friendly attitude. He reminded her of one of those town doctors who made house calls and carried around a little black doctor’s bag everywhere he went.

“It is painful, but enough complaining. Enough about me—we’re here to talk about Hunter, aren’t we?” he asked, opening a file on his desk.

“I’m really grateful that you’re making the time to see me. I can imagine you’re exceedingly busy.”

He looked up at her, smiling, his light green eyes meeting hers and then quickly darting back to the file. “I always have time for my patients and their loved ones. This is my life’s work.” He sighed. “Now, getting down to business, I’d like to fill you in on Hunter’s condition. He was brought here yesterday with a gunshot wound to the chest, and the bullet had in fact penetrated the chest wall and the lung, resulting in thoracic great vessel injury. As his blood pressure was rapidly falling and he was losing large quantities of blood, it was determined that surgical intervention was an immediate necessity. I was called in to perform emergency surgery.” The doctor looked up and met her gaze. “You’re frightened.”

Kallie nodded. She was clutching her purse so hard that her knuckles were white.

“It’s very difficult to hear.”

Dr. Forrest smiled kindly. “I’ll try to keep this part brief. However, I think an overview of the situation is important, so I can help you orient yourself to the current issues we face with Hunter’s condition.”

“Absolutely. That’s why I came here.”

The doctor took a breath and continued, as if reciting a book from memory. “It was determined the patient had experienced a partial lung collapse and the situation was deteriorating. We proceeded with emergency thoracotomy for rapid descending aortic cross-clamping and manual control of bleeding. During surgery, bullet fragments were found in the patient’s lung tissue, and he’d sustained minor damage to the pulmonary artery, which was repaired. The patient stabilized and the surgery was deemed a success, although it’s too early to tell just how successful it was.”

“I lost you a few times,” Kallie said slowly. “But what do you mean, it’s too early to tell how successful the surgery was?”

“It’s too early to tell because of the amount of damage sustained. Hunter’s body underwent a massive amount of trauma, and everyone responds to that sort of thing differently.”

Dr. Forrest leaned back in his chair. Kallie’s eyes were drawn to the white shock of hair atop his head, and then back to those green, wizened eyes. “But he’s awake. He’s off his ventilator and breathing on his own,” she clarified.

The doctor nodded. “Yes, that’s true. But typically, it’s the first forty-eight hours post-surgery where complications tend to arise, and so we need to be vigilant and cautious in terms of prognosis.”

“So you’re saying there’s a chance that he’s not really better—that something’s still wrong with him?” Her voice quivered a bit as she spoke.

“I’m saying that we need to monitor the situation very carefully and not be overconfident. So far, all signs are pointing to a successful and full recovery. But we’ll know a lot more in the next thirty hours.”

Kallie took a deep breath and released it. This was not at all what she’d wanted to hear from him. She pursed her lips, thinking a moment before speaking again. “Are you going to do anymore tests to determine if he’s headed in the right direction?”

“Sure, we’ll do a CT scan, transesophageal echocardiogram, and of course continue to watch his vitals closely for any sign of distress. He’s in a relatively good place, Kallie, and we know exactly what procedures need to be followed in order to care for Hunter as he continues to heal.”

Kallie tried to form a smile, but it was difficult. The conversation had shaken her.

“Well, thanks for meeting with me,” she said, finally, rising from her chair.

“Look, you can always feel free to schedule a meeting with me,” he said, also standing, albeit slowly and with a twitch of pain in his eyes as his bad leg seemed to flare up.

“What if there’s an emergency or I have an important question? Can I email you?”

Dr. Forrest laughed heartily. “I wouldn’t suggest it. I never quite got used to that whole email thing, so my assistant handles all of that stuff. But I can give you my cell phone number. I’ve had the same phone for years—someone had to teach me how to use the dang thing, but I finally figured it out and I’m not switching now.”